Drew Gordon Verbally Commits To UCLA
By Bruin Basketball Report
Drew Gordon, a 6'9 235 lb junior from Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose CA, has verbally committed to UCLA.
Gordon is ranked the #16 overall player by Rivals and No.20 by Scout in
the Class of 2008, while ESPN ranks him as one of the top six power
forwards in his class.
“I am excited for the recruiting phase to be over for me, and I can’t
wait to get to UCLA, even though I have another year of high school” Gordon said. “I want to thank all of the schools who were interested in
me. It was an honor to be recruited by such top level programs. I
appreciated getting to know all the coaches and players, and I look
forward to competing against them as a Bruin.”
The highly sought after junior is a strong and athletic big man with electrifying leaping ability. He is projected to be a power forward and/or center at UCLA.
Last season at Mitty, Gordon averaged 13.6 points a game (2nd on the team) and shot 55% from the field. He led the team with 3.6 blocked shots and 9.1 rebounds a game while leading his Monarch team to the state finals. He also participates on the school's track team as a highly ranked discus thrower.
While Gordon is already a stellar defender, his game is still relatively raw and he possesses a huge upside especially on the offensive end.
He joins an already impressive list of players committed to UCLA in 2008 in guards Jerime Anderson and Malcolm Lee. The Bruins still have the potential of landing top guard Jrue Holiday of Campbell Hall and another recruit in the class of 2008.
“I fully support Drew’s decision. UCLA has a great program that will
push him to become an excellent player and will develop him as a
student athlete." Mitty Coach Brian Eagleson said. "We reviewed many
aspects of the programs on Drew’s list, and UCLA fits him as a player
and as a person.”
Gordon chose UCLA after considering several top programs, including North Carolina, Duke, Arizona, Washington and California.
[video of Drew Jordan jam]
(photo credit: LAT/Lui Lopez)
Labels: Recruiting Misc News
BBR :: Article Link :: 7:30 AM ::
20 comments
20 Comments:
This is great news indeed. Does this make signing Jrue more or less likely? Would be a huge 2008 class especially with Malcom moving up the rankings and now a 5 star I believe.
YES!!! Another great player to be welcomed to the Bruin Family. Ben is doing a amazing job. Only a matter of time before number 12 is hung up.
Wow!! This is a great news to start my morning. Thanks again for keeping your site going!
We just added another one and done player to the dy-nasty!!
Howland is the man!
This guy is a baller!!
Again, thank you for keeping the site going!! I'm spreading the word!!
w00t!!!
I am pleased.
Fantastic news! We needed more size and toughness to go along with Kevin Love. Like the old 80's Olivia Newton John song goes "Let's Get Physical". I hate the song but I love this great site!!!
Has anybody seen Drew Gordon play? How is he different than say - Aboya. Most reports I've seen say he is a board crasher and defender but lacks some offensive skills. Or for example how is he different than Wright who was similarly ranked as a prospect but didn't pan out. What sort of person/player are we expecting to see develop.
Here is the recap and the real question for UCLA basketball recruiting.
11 of the 13 scholarship positions for next season are spoken for - this leaves just 2 open scholarships.
With Mata graduating that opens up a 3rd.
The 2008 recruiting class with the recent addition of Drew Gordon (plus Malcolm Lee & Jerime Anderson) claiming those 3 spots.
Which begs the questions - what about Jrue Holiday ??? or any other recruit for that matter?
I realize that one of next years 5 juniors may opt for the nba or some other underclassman will transfer - but at the moment there is a statement with any additional recruiting, correct?
Am I missing something? Can Jrue Holiday (or anybody else) still receive a binding offer from UCLA ?
Good points Clyde. I think you mean stalemate with recruiting, but point taken... good question, what can and can't they do since they don't officially have a scholarship left?
Scholarships are awarded on a year-to-year basis to student-athletes.
UCLA can sign another player(s) for 2008, however, they will be limited to 13 scholarships in any given year.
What does this mean?
Either a current player on the team will either leave early for the NBA or will transfer next year. The most likely scenario is that a player will leave for the NBA early.
Darren Collison is the most likely candidate to leave early, perhaps if Luc Richard Mbah a Moute and/or Josh Shipp have break-out years and UCLA has another strong NCAA tourney run, they may leave early as well. And of course, there is always the chance Kevin Love ends up a one and done player.
Our guess is UCLA's approach will be to sign at least one more player for 2008 (Jrue Holiday) and then wait until the end of next season to see if its likely someone else is leaving, and if so, then go for a late signing in the class of 2008.
- BBR
Thanks for responding.
So I guess what happens in the RARE case that nobody leaves next year (except mata of course) then if Jrue Holiday is signed then they would be forced to red shirt somebody.
I was just afraid that they could not actually offer anybody a scholarship at this point because all 13 spots are accounted for based upon seniors on the team this year and the 2008 recuirting class.
So that being said ... crossing the fingers that Jrue Holiday steers towards being a bruin. All guards all the time.
A red-shirt player still counts towards the scholarship count.
A player would have to either leave for the NBA (likely Collison) or transfer.
- BBR
Excellent - so that clears that up. So the most likely scenario is if Holiday comes on board then Collison would need to opt for the NBA. And if Shipp decides to go they would have another spot open.
I don't really like to see guys transfer because UCLA really has no control over that and it is also an indication that expectations on a recruit were not realized. I suppose it happens but just a bummer to see. What did happen to Ryan Wright ??? Pretty high recruit to not have pan out and it wasn't due to injuries or anything that I know of. Anybody have any insight as to that situation.
Wait, is Howland allowed in the rules to even offer another scholarship to a high schooler until someone on the team actually decides to go pro? I don't understand how can he offer a scholarship to Holiday before Collison, Love or Shipp declare for the draft. Can someone explain?
Thanks, this has been bugging all week.
UCLA is allowed to offer more scholarship, however each year, UCLA is allowed to only have 13 scholarship players. As I wrote above, it means either a player will need to leave for the pro ranks or transfer.
Collison, Love, Shipp and/or Moute may leave for the pros after next season.
As for transfers, similarly to Ryan Wright, a current player may elect to transfer to another school in order to gain more playing time, or in the unfortunate instance have his scholarship pulled from him.
A more likely scenario is where a coach informs a player he will likely play minimal minutes due to depth on the roster and the player, seeing the writing on the wall, then elects to transfer schools.
- BBR
It seems that Collison would need to be leaving for the NBA for us to have a good chance to get Holliday in the first place, wouldn't it? Would a recruit with his pedigree be willing to sit behind Collison AND Westbrook?
But say that the unlikely did happen, and neither Love, Collison, or anyone else voluntarily left for the NBA. Who would be pushed out the door? Would we have to recant on one of the scholarship offers (if no one transfered)?
Yes, if Collison or another player doesn't leave early for the NBA, its more likely a player would transfer to another school to gain more playing time.
- BBR
gordon is not that great i play against him
There is a chance I might to to the high school that he used to go to.
ive played with this guy since middle school at union. ive watched his games at mitty. He is very raw but to be a good player you have to have basketball smart or you wont learn anything. Drew doesn't have any, and its not something that can be taught. He thinks he's only going to be a bruin for two years, not try in school, and go to the nba. It't not gonna happen. BUST
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